State Carbon Pricing Policies

Publication Type

Map

Notes

Compared to command-and-control regulations, carbon pricing is a market-based mechanism that creates financial incentives to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, making the reductions cost effective.Eleven states that are home to over a quarter of the U.S. population already have a price on carbon and are successfully reducing emissions. Those states are California, the nine Northeast states, in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), and Washington state, with its Clean Air Rule in effect in 2017. California’s cap and trade system and Washington’s Clean Air Rule are aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from multiple sectors of the economy, while RGGI is aimed at reducing carbon emissions only from the power sector.